Beyond Kingdom Hearts
by CthuluTheOld
Summary: A new story in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Ignis is a regular student at the Keyblade Academy. One night an all out assault by the heartless separates Ignis from his friends. Ignis begins to travel among the worlds building an army to fight back.
1. Chapter 1

Ignis ran through the hall of the school. The attack had come out of nowhere. The school was hidden. There was no possible way the heartless could have found them. Students and teachers were running around. The younger students were being shepherded to the inner sanctum of the school to protect them. Ignis and the group he was with ran for the courtyard. The heartless had bypassed all of the protections set around the school. Ignis was at the back of the group. Nox was in the front. Nox slammed into the main door which lead to the courtyard. He yelled as he summoned his keyblade and began to attack the heartless with ferocity that rivaled some of the teachers. Ignis stopped and took the battle in for all it was worth. Dozens of keyblade masters were fighting back the heartless, along with hundreds of students to back them up. Surprisingly not all of the masters were outside. Maybe they were in reserve if things got really bad. However, Ignis could see the through the wall that the heartless had made and he could see thousands of heartless coming. They were going to need everyone.

"Are you going to help?"

Ignis looked to see that Hikari had yelled at him. He jumped down, summoning his keyblade, Flashing Lightning, to help her with the heartless she had targeted. Hikari was Ignis' best friend ever since coming to this school. She was the only one that was not put off by his white hair. She gave him a hard time but always had his back if things went bad. Ignis dodged a slash from a shadow and destroyed it with a single swing.

Both ran to the next group to help other students. Ignis unleashed a thunder spell and destroyed the entire group.

"Nice" Hikari congratulated him.

"Thanks."

They had saved Titan and Leo. The four ran together to help their friends. Ignis unleashed thunder spell after thunder spell. They were his specialty and did not tire him out at all. Ignis was hopeful they were going to win until he noticed Hikari's face.

"Get DOWN!" Hikari grabbed Ignis' arm and dove for the ground.

Ignis looked back to see three Behemoths destroy the rest of the wall. Behemoths were some of the biggest heartless there were. They ran on four legs with two giant horns used for attacking. Their only weakness was a smaller third horn on top of their head. Only final year students and masters had a chance against them.

"Students focus on the small ones getting through. We will handle the Behemoths." Ignis saw The Head Master Yensid standing on top of one of the behemoths. Ignis looked under the Behemoths and saw hundreds of heartless swarming under the legs. These heartless were not just simple shadows, large bodies and even some invisibles permeated the grouping. Ignis grew nervous. They were winning but now with stronger heartless coming through and the students and masters were getting tired, he was not so sure of the outcome.

He swung, dodged, and cast spells for a few minutes until he heard Yensid begin to speak again.

"Everyone we will retreat into the main hall. There they will be bottlenecked and easier to pick off. Those proficient at healing should go to the hospital and await the wounded to arrive. Move NOW!"

Ignis ran for the main hall. Hikari and Titan stood with him, but Leo ran for the hospital. Leo was one of the best students at healing. Ignis knew he would do anything to save the lives of students and teachers. Yensid closed the door and sealed it with magic before turning to the keybladers and discussing their dire situation.

"The heartless caught us with our gaze down. There was no warning of this attack. The magic I have sealed the door with will not hold for very long and the heartless are attacking other parts of the school. Now you will be assigned where to go to defend; red for the game field and green for the watchtower. Whichever color your gem changes is where you go. If it is Black then that means you are staying here. Ignis' gem on his shoulder armor glowed green while the gem on Hikari's gauntlet glowed black, and Titan's was red. "Also, " Yensid continued his speech, " those capable of using armor are allowed to."

Ignis looked down as both Hikari and Titan hit their gems to activate armor mode along with most of the other students. He had not passed the test required to achieve armor mode. The armor was supposed to increase ones abilities and allow travel between worlds. Ignis looked to see Hikari decked out in her red and blue armor while titan was gold and silver.

"Be careful friends." Titan placed a hand on Ignis' shoulder before running off to the game area. Ignis looked at Hikari.

"See ya when this is all over?" Hikari gave Ignis a hug.

"Definitely. Now go save the world."

Ignis turn and ran for the watchtower. Saving the world was what Ignis wanted to do. Some keybladers were content to only study the powers of the keyblades, while others only watched what happened on the worlds but Ignis wanted to actually travel to other worlds and save them.

It took a while but the fifty or so students chosen for the watchtower finally reached their destination. Ignis looked to see Master Merlin casting spells repeatedly at flying heartless. Ignis and the other students joined the fray. Merlin instructed the students about their mission.

"Your main objective is to try and keep them from landing. If we fail then the heartless will have a direct link into the middle of the school and they will be unstoppable."

As it happened Ignis ended up right next to Merlin.

"Dear lord boy. Where is your armor?"

Ignis looked around and saw he was the only one without armor. "Um… I haven't passed the test yet sir."

"Well alright then. Keep your wits about you."

Ignis nodded and went back to slaying the heartless. More and more kept coming. Razorwings permeated the sky. Ignis launched a fire ball at one of the bigger heartless to see it explode, followed by a lightning spell to destroy a group of razorwings. They were holding their own and Ignis was about to cast another spell until Merlin stopped him.

"We must retreat."

"What why?" Ignis was confused. He looked around and not even a single heartless had gotten through yet.

"We have lost the main hall. Yensid is calling for a full retreat to the outer worlds."

"I don't have armor. I won't survive the trip. And what do you mean lost? How is that possible?" Ignis thought of Hikari as he spoke.

"To many heartless got through." Merlin stood up and spoke to everyone present, "Students we are in full retreat. Everyone will go to the basement to the teleport room. I will stay to ensure you make it. Go now!"

Students ran down the stairs as fast as possible. Ignis was in the middle but was able to force himself down a side hallway. He wanted to find Hikari if he could. He ran for a while until he came upon a Neoshadow. It was as tall as Ignis and three times stronger than a regular shadow. Ignis block its first attack but felt its claws cut his skin with another. Blodd trickled out of the cut but Ignis ignored the pain. He unleashed magnera followed with a fireball. The neoshadow disappeared and Ignis continued on his way. He rounded the corner and saw the main hall. Bodies of keybladers lay across the floor. There were no heartless of course. But that was wrong. Ignis looked around. There should be hundreds of heartless coming through the door yet even though the door was wide open the heartless stayed outside. Ignis walked through the hall until he spotted someone sitting on a table.

"Nox, what happened?"

"Hmm?" Nox turned around. "Oh yeah the heartless got through but Yensid cast one more barrier to let everyone escape."

Ignis turned to look at the placid heartless "But why aren't they trying to break in?"

"Heck if I know."

Ignis turned back to face Nox. "Do you know if Hikari made it out?"

Nox shook his head. "Sorry Ignis I didn't see."

Something did not feel right. "Nox why are you still here?"

"What? Oh uh I stayed behind to make sure they escaped?"

Ignis shook his head. "That's not how Yensid works. He would never agree to that."

"Then why are you here Ignis." Nox looked sternly at Ignis.

"Because I wanted to find Hikari."

"You better go to the teleport room." Nox waved Ignis away but Ignis held his spot.

"No I am going to check and make sure she isn't here."

"Oh come on he isn't going to leave. Let me just kill him like I did the others."

Ignis looked around to see who spoke.

"Up here idiot."

Ignis looked up to see a heartless sitting on a banister. It was unlike any heartless he had ever seen or studied. It had glowing red X's where it's eyes should have been. It had a giant toothy smile. It was wearing tattered clothing.

"Fine." Nox spoke in a bored voice.

Ignis looked at Nox then back up at the heartless as it jumped down from the banister and summoned a gigantic Scythe.


	2. Chapter 2

Ignis jumped back as the heartless slashed down with his scythe. He had never seen a heartless like it. None of the books Ignis had studied depicted the heartless standing in front of him, which meant only one thing. The heartless was unique, and Ignis did not know if he could win. The heartless ripped his scythe out of the ground pulling chunks of rock out with it.

"Scared little Keyblade wielder?" The heartless mocked.

"No. Just wondering the name of my attacker." Ignis' mind was racing.

"You can call me, Set." Set lunged slashing at Ignis. Ignis jumped back for a second and then launched himself at Set attacking with a downward slash. Set knocked the blow to the side easily and aimed a kick at Ignis' head. Ignis blocked with his free hand, swung again at Set. This time Set flipped over the blow, and kicked Ignis' legs. Ignis fell to his knees and barely had block a blow from the scythe. Ignis' arms shook as he tried to keep the scythe at bay. As the scythe slowly crept towards his head, Set began to talk.

"So why did you come here all alone." Set's red X's glowed brighter.

"I was looking for somebody." Ignis grunted out, trying to focus.

"Oh who? Maybe I killed them. I can tell you." Set mocked. Starting to laugh.

"I doubt that. She would not lose to you. If I am barely surviving you she would easily destroy you." Ignis had finally stopped the scythe from getting closer to his head.

"Is that true. Well I guess I will just have to kill you and then find her!" The heartless put on a pressure Ignis was not ready for. The Scythe quickly moved at his head. Ignis angled his keyblade and moved to the side. Ignis moved a little to slowly and the scythe wracked across his right arm. Ignis jumped as far back as he could. He looked down at his arm to see the damage dealt. The cut ran from his shoulder to his elbow. Blood poured freely from it. Ignis saw the heartless made no move, so he took the time to heal, except the wound did not close.

"Trying to heal? That magic won't work." Set began to screech loudly, laughing.

Ignis began to sweat. He was losing blood fast and he was going to faint, he had only one chance. Ignis forced himself to grab his keyblade with both hands and focused on Set. His body began to crackle with lightning and his eyes glowed yellow

"Are you really going to try magic against me?" Set slowly walked towards Ignis. Ignis needed more time to charge, but he could not move. Set was about three feet from Ignis when he finally unleashed his charged up power.

"Lightning Ray!" Ignis yelled. He moved as fast as lightning and struck Set. Ignis appeared behind Set for less than a second before striking him again. He continued to strike Set over and over for a total of ten times. To finish it off, Ignis shot lightning from his keyblade, hitting Set square in the chest. Ignis stumbled back, exhausted. He may not have armor, but he was one of the few fifth year students who could use shotlock commands.

"You insignificant whelp!" Ignis stared in disbelief as Set stood up. For all of his effort, Set was only missing an arm. Where Ignis' lightning had struck was a glowing white wound. Set grabbed his scythe and dragged it towards Ignis.

"I am going to kill you slowly, and then I am going to find your girlfriend and kill her too." Set's eyes were a deep red. Ignis fell back. His keyblade disappearing as he crawled away. His body flattened on the ground as Set placed a foot on him.

"You are by far the most annoying keyblader I have ever killed." Set brought his scythe down. A large fireball hit Set in the chest pushing him off Ignis and nearly to the back of the hall. Ignis looked up to see Merlin standing over him.

"You okay my boy?" Merlin grabbed the back of Ignis' shirt and lifted him up. Merlin kept his wand trained on Set.

"You did very well my boy. Now let me show this heartless what real power is." Another fire ball launched from the tip of the wand and flew towards Set. Before it could hit though, Nox moved from his spot on the bench and knocked the ball off course. The ball exploded, scorching the wall where it struck.

"So you are the one to let the heartless in?" Merlin asked Nox.

"Yes." Nox stood nonchalantly.

"How could you boy? What would compel your heart to turn to darkness?" Merlin kept his wand trained on Nox, while Ignis fought to keep conscious next to Merlin.

"The power of light is strong." Nox's hands began to emit black light. "But the power of darkness just has too many possibilities!" Nox launched a dark fireball at Merlin. Merlin quickly raised a magical shield in front of him and Ignis. The ball dissipated against the wall. Merlin returned with a volley of fireballs. As Nox dodged the magic, Merlin grabbed Ignis.

"We must leave. Now!" Merlin launched himself, and flew through the hallways. Ignis held on for his life, not wanting to be dropped. As they raced through the halls, Ignis caught glimpses of other students and faculties fighting the heartless, with some being overwhelmed. Merlin flew into the basement to the teleporter room. Merlin landed, and placed Ignis on his feet. Ignis fell, his head swimming. He had lost too much blood.

"I am not losing you too." Merlin knelt over Ignis and placed his wand against Ignis' wound. A white light blinded Ignis for a second. As it disappeared, Ignis felt his mind clear and looked at his arm. The wound had sealed, but it left a scar.

"Tried my best boy." Merlin sat in a chair, breathing heavily. "That scythe is a dark weapon, if it resists healing magics."

"Thank you sir. What do we do now?" Ignis looked down into the large hole that made up the teleporter. The teleporter room was a one hundred foot cube. In the middle was a large hole that lead to the space between worlds. Only those with armor or a ship could safely navigate it.

"What do we do? We run boy. The castle is lost." Merlin pushed himself up and moved to the control panel for the teleporter.

"We can't just leave everyone. I can't leave my friends." Ignis stepped away.

"Your friends have made it out safely. Those that are still here are either teachers or last year students. I promise you, your friends are safe. Now I have a job for you." Merlin reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter.

"What is it?" Ignis grabbed the letter.

"You must hand this letter to the headmaster at the school I am sending you to. His name is Albus Dumbledore. He will instruct you on your next step." Merlin grabbed Ignis scared arm and dragged him to the teleporter.

"But how will I survive the trip? What about you?" Ignis tried to fight, but was too weak from earlier.

"Don't worry my boy." Merlin smiled. "We will meet again, and my magic will protect you. The journey will be very painful though." Ignis began to glow white and as Merlin completed his spell, he threw Ignis into the hole.

Right before Ignis disappeared he heard Merlin say, "Curious that you would be fated to tie the worlds together."

Ignis flew through the space between worlds. Stars were all around him. If it was not for the feeling of his body being on fire, he may have enjoyed the ride. He screamed in agony, but no noise came out. Different colored lights whirled around him. Ignis had no sense of time in the space. He could have been in there for five minutes or five years. Slowly he looked to see he was heading towards a giant spinning world. His body broke through the walls that kept the world separate from the others and saw himself heading for a castle. He noticed a town maybe a mile from it. His mind was so focused on the pain and his surroundings, he did not notice his body was not slowing down. He moved into an arena of some sort with kids flying on broomsticks. He felt nothing as he crashed through one of the stands, yet his body lost no momentum. He finally lost consciousness as he collided with the ground.

Ana flew towards the goal holding the quaffle. She dodged a bludger aimed for her head, and passed the ball to a teammate. They were behind by thirty points, but were slowly making a comeback. The Slytherins were playing dirty as always, but they had no where near the skill the Ravenclaws did. She grabbed the quaffle, and quickly launched it at one of the goals. A ding was made as the ball passed through, closing the gap to twenty points. As long as the Slytherin seeker did not get the snitch they had a chance.

Ana flew back to her side waiting for the Slytherins to charge when she heard the crowd scream and saw some of them point at something in the sky.

"Please don't let it be him." Ana looked to not see He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but a giant ball of fire streaking across the sky, heading straight for the arena. The players scattered as the ball smashed through the middle of one of the raised stands. Ana saw the ball hit the ground and noticed something bounce fifty feet past where the ball struck. While the crowd went wild, Ana flew straight for the thing. As she got closer she noticed the thing was actually a boy. She landed five feet from him, and ran to kneel next to him. The boy had striking white hair. His clothes and body were badly burned. Ana rolled him on his back, and made sure he was breathing.

"Please don't die." Ana checked the boys body. She did not want to unclothe the boy, so she checked for broken bones. Luckily the boy seemed to be okay, other than a large scar on his right arm.

"Ana back away from that boy immediately." Ana looked to Professor McGonogal leading almost the entirety of the Hogwarts staff over to her with her wand out and ready.

"It's just a boy Professor. He's not a death eater." Ana stood her ground in front of the teachers.

"Be that as it may. We will still have to take precautions." The professor waved her wand and chains wrapped around the boys hands and feet.

"We will take the boy to the infirmary." Headmaster Dumbledore ordered. He waved his wand and the boy floated upward to Ana's shoulder level. "You may visit him if you wish, later. The students have been ordered to return to their common rooms."

Ana opened her mouth to argue but closed it, knowing it was useless to argue. She grabbed her broom and flew back to the school. She walked through the school to the tower that held her common room. Students were talking about what happened. Cho Chang came running over when she saw Ana enter.

"What was it?" Cho grabbed Ana's hand leading her over to the fireplace.

"It was a boy, with pure white hair. He had burns all over his body." Ana explained to everyone around her.

"Could he be a Death Eater?" One boy asked.

"I don't think so. He didn't have a mask, nor a black cloak." Ana sat feeling the warmth of the fire on her back.

"What about the stories of monsters?" Luna Lovegood piped up. "Could the boy be tied to them?"

"Luna, I doubt the boy has anything to do with the missing kids." Cho answered looking down. Ana looked down at the rug along with everyone else.

Kids had begun to disappear for three months now. Parents wanted to pull their kids, and many had. Those that stayed believed Hogwarts was the single safest place in the world. Seventh, Sixth, and Fifth year students remembered what it was like when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. This year it was even worse, since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back along with his death eaters. No one knew who was making the kids disappear. Was it him or another secret of Hogwarts coming back to bite the students? Ana did not know.

Ana looked up to see a few had tears in their eyes. They had lost five Ravenclaws. Each left behind an empty bed and many friends. Ana got up and went straight for the door.

"Ana where are you going?" Luna asked.

"To wake that kid up. He might know something. We live in a magical world. Nothing happens by chance." Ana pushed her way out and moved to the infirmary, unaware of the shadows on the walls following her down the hallway.


End file.
